The name is absent

138

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Though these policies of South Australia pre-date the
referendum, they are appropriately considered at this juncture
as ’contemporary* policy anticipating the reforms of the
Labor government at the Federal level.
і

11.21 Integration - an alternative to assimilation, South Australian
State Labor Party policy, 1965

Legislation in South Australia before the sixties had, in
general, codified and legitimated practice.

The mid-sixties in South Australia saw a period of legislation
by a Labor Government that attempted not to legitimate, but to
change practice.

Laws were passed regarding land rights for Aborigines. Anti-
discrimination laws were aimed at changing the practices, if not the
attitudes, of the white population towards Aborigines, For the
first time, there was a move from policies aimed at control and
containment of the Aboriginal people to discussion, consultation
and negotiation.

King, the then South Australian Minister for Aboriginal Affairs

issued a statement in 1971 entitled The Shaping of a New Aboriginal

Policy in South Australia. He repudiated the official policies of
assimilation held by the Liberal governments and maintained that

The final wrong would be to attempt to destroy the
Aborigine’s racial and cultural identity and to turn him
into a pseudo-white man. A most encouraging sign is the
development among Aborigines of the desire to identify
with their own people and to be proud of their race and
its culture.

This desire of educated Aborigines to be with their own
people,, rather than escape from their environment into
the white community, is a most hopeful indication of the
rapid recovery of self-respect of the Aboriginal people
(King, Commonwealth Hansard, Senate Budget Debate,
1971-72:756-759).

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